From Cyprus we ran over and reconnoitred St. Jean d’Acre, which I was glad to see did not present any great obstacle to an attack from sea. Many men were employed completing the works on the land side; but the sea front, I suppose, was considered sufficiently strong. From Acre we went off Tyre, which was occupied by Albanian troops, and in the evening anchored at Beyrout, having run over all this ground in little more than forty-eight hours. The following day the Carysfort was despatched to Cyprus with more provisions. On the 9th of September, the ships in the offing, who had directions to bring Admiral Walker to Beyrout, made the signal for a convoy. Sir Robert Stopford, in the Princess Charlotte, also hove in sight, and before sunset the whole were at anchor off the town. Sir Charles Smith, who had arrived in the Pique a few days before in bad health, was still too unwell to take the direction of the military affairs, and Sir Robert Stopford did me the honour of placing the troops under my command. Souliman Pacha at this time was at the head of the army at Beyrout, and was supposed to have 15,000 men under his orders. Ibrahim and Osman were at Balbeck with 10,000 more; the garrison of Sidon consisted of 3000; that of Tripoli, and in the neighbourhood, 5000; the rest of the Egyptian army, consisting of from 40,000 to 50,000 men, were stationed in various parts of Syria. Had the Egyptian troops at Beyrout, with the exception of the garrison, marched to the heights of Ornagacuan and the high land over Nahr-el-Kelb, those at Balbeck on Gazir, Harissa and Antoura, and those at Tripoli pushed along shore by D’Jebail the moment we landed, there is little doubt but we should have been withdrawn, and the troops sent to Cyprus, and Mehemet Ali would now have been in possession of Syria, and England, in all probability, involved in war with France; or even had we remained inactive, and contented ourselves with occupying a strong hold only, we should have incurred the same risk. -------------- CHAPTER V. The Allied Troops landed in D’Jounie Bay—Encampment—Reconnoissances—Submission of the Emir Abdallah—Beyrout summoned to Surrender—Reply of Souliman Pacha—Impolicy of the Attack on Beyrout—Forbearance of Souliman Pacha—Capture of D’Jebail—Captain Martin’s Report—Reconnoissance to Merouba—Report to the Admiral.